Chocolate City (music label)
Chocolate City Music is a Nigeria-based record label, which administers a recording studio and an artiste management. The record label also provides events consultancy services. History Originally founded as a night club/rave in 1997, Chocolate City quickly became the number one promotions outfit in the Northern part of Nigeria and moved into the industry main stream in 2005 with the launch of the record label ('Chocolate City Music'). Chocolate City is credited with pioneering the promotion of Northern-based musicians around Nigeria with the discovery and signing acts like Six Foot Plus and Jeremiah Gyang (whose debut album Na BA KA won numerous accolades and acclaim for the artist as well as the label). Chocolate City went on to discover, manage and promote the careers of talents like Djinee, Jude abaga, aka MI, Asa, Djinee, Jesse Jagz, Ice Prince and other artist who later won awards both locally and internationally. In June 2007, Audu Maikori Founder/CEO of Chocolate City won the prestigious British award the International Young Music Entrepreneur of the Year (IYMEY) by the British Council, making Nigeria the first country to win 2 global awards in the Young Creative Entrepreneurs Series (the first was Lanre Lawal (IYDEY) 2005), after beating 9 countries including Philippines, Latvia, Lithuania, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Tanzania, Egypt and Poland. Activism Chocolate City has since worked closely with the Federal Government of Nigeria as well as several international organisations such as the British Council in promoting the creative industries as well as Capacity building projects in and around Nigeria. In April 2008, Chocolate City announced a major collaborative effort in partnership with the British Council and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to take a delegation of Nigerian music stakeholders to London Calling 2008 in a bid to open new vistas for the fast growing Nigerian music industry currently valued at around $500 Million (2007). Chocolate City has also been active in the promotion of the Creative industries globally having participated in several workshops and initiatives. In January 2008, Chocolate City delivered a keynote address on a workshop tagged "Mapping the Creative Industries in Albania" organised by the British Council, Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Ministry of Economy, Albania. The workshop was aimed at sharing experiences of creative entrepreneurs from around Europe, the UK and Nigeria. Chocolate City activities were judged to have the capacity to affect the Nigerian Music Industry on a national scale, receiving media coverage from both local and international media. Reuters International produced a documentary on the Chocolate City success story tagged "Music and Money" in recognition of its contributions to the development of the Nigerian Music Industry. Artists Artists on the label include: *M.I.: Jude abaga *Jesse Jagz *Ice Prince ' MANAGEMENT TEAM' *Yahaya Maikori *Okeugo Paul *Audu Maikori *Kunle Peter-Thomas *Katung Aduwak Awards and nominations Won by Chocolate City Artists include: CHOCOLATE CITY MUSIC Best Label- AA Awards 2008 Global IYMEY Awards by British Council( international Creative Enterprise Series) 2007 ' M.I- Jude Abaga' AWARDS Hip Hop Revelation(2009)-HIP HOP WORLD AWARDS 2009 Best Rap Album - HIP HOP WORLD AWARDS 2009 Best Hip Hop Act- Nigerian Entertainment Awards 2009 Best New Act- Nigerian Entertainment Awards 2009 Best Hip Hop Act- City People Awards Best Rap single-Hip Hop World Awards Musician of the Year- Modemen Awards 2008 Best New Act- MAMA 2009 Best Hip Hop- MAMA 2009 NOMINATIONS: Best International Act [AWARDS} 2010 Best New Act - MTV MAMA AWARDS 2009 Best Hip Hop - MTV MAMA AWARDS 2009 JESSE JAGZ - Jesse Abaga AWARDS Artist with most Top Ten hits- Cool FM Producer of the Year- Plateau Award for Excellence-2008 NOMINATIONS Producer of the Year- Hip Hop World Awards 2009 Producer of the Year- The Future Awards 2009 ICE PRINCE- Panshak Zamani AWARDS Winner- Hennessy Artistry September 2009 - 2010 Bring The Noise Project M.I (Jude Abaga) represented Nigeria on a 12 country tour of the UK and Africa from 2007-2008 Sources *Audi Maikori IYMEY 2007 winner *CCM Profole at creativeeconomy.org *Music and Money *AfricaHit News External links * http://www.chocolatecitygroup.com Category:Nigerian record labels